Johnnie Johnson; British Pilot Downed 38 Enemy Planes During World War II

Johnnie Johnson, who shot down 38 enemy aircraft, making him the Royal Air Force’s top gun in World War II, has died.

Johnson died Tuesday at his home in Buxton in Derbyshire after an illness, said his friend, retired Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris. He was 85.

Johnson’s career began inauspiciously. At first rejected by the Auxiliary Air Force, he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserves in the summer of 1940. He crashed a Spitfire on his fourth flight.

He was hampered by an old rugby injury, but his courage was questioned by military doctors when he reported the problem. After surgery to repair the injured collarbone, which kept him out of the Battle of Britain, he joined the Tangmere Wing in 1941 under the command of Douglas Bader, the legendary pilot who had lost both legs before the war.

Johnson shot down his first plane, a Messerschmitt 109, over France on June 26, 1941.

In 1943, he was made commander of an air wing composed of three Canadian squadrons based at Kenley. On their first operation under Johnson’s command, the wing shot down six Focke-Wulf 190s, with Johnson downing one.

Described in an obituary in the British newspaper The Independent as a pilot with a “finely trained judgment of distance and exceptional eyesight,” Johnson seldom missed a target.

“He never shot haphazardly but conserved his ammunition and fired only when he thought he could destroy,” the newspaper said.

And destroy he did, throughout the war. While other pilots attained kills against heavier bombers, Johnson got most of his in fighter-to-fighter combat. His plane was hit only once in combat, the day he attained his final kill of the war. In a dogfight near Venlo in the Netherlands, his Spitfire was hit but he still shot down a Messerschmitt.

During the Korean War, Johnson flew fighter-bombers while attached to the U.S. Air Force.

His commendations include the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Flying Cross, the U.S. Legion of Merit and the Air Medal.

Johnson remained in the Royal Air Force until 1966, retiring as air vice marshal in command of Air Forces Middle East in Aden. In later years, he founded the Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust, which has built more than 4,000 homes, many for people with special needs.

The son of a policeman, James Edgar Johnson was born at Barrow-upon-Soar in Leicestershire. As a youth he became a crack marksman with a shotgun. In 1937, he graduated from Nottingham University with a degree in civil engineering.

He is survived by two sons.

A private cremation service was planned.